China’s national safety regulators on Wednesday summoned state-owned construction giants China Communications Construction Company and Power Construction Corporation of China over what they said were safety failures linked to two major incidents.
Negligence, falsifications, illegal subcontracting, cutting corners and safety management failures at the two companies and their subsidiaries contributed to a May 2024 road collapse that killed 52 people in southern China and a November 2025 partial collapse of a newly constructed bridge in the country’s southwest, the emergency management ministry said in a statement.
The companies could not be immediately reached for comment outside of regular office hours.
Repeated Failures, Painful Lessons
“The same types of accident hazards have been found repeatedly in inspections, yet violated repeatedly … the lessons are extremely painful,” the statement said.
The blunt language from regulators signals growing frustration within China’s government over persistent safety lapses at major state-owned enterprises, particularly in the construction sector, where cost pressures and lax oversight have repeatedly been linked to fatal accidents.
The two incidents, one a catastrophic road collapse that claimed 52 lives, the other a structural failure of a newly built bridge, drew public anger and raised serious questions about quality control and accountability within China’s vast state construction industry.
That both companies are state-owned makes the failures especially embarrassing for Beijing, which has long promoted its infrastructure capabilities as a point of national pride.
Regulators Demand Action
The companies must take concrete and forceful measures to “resolutely prevent and curb the occurrence of major and extraordinarily serious disaster accidents,” regulators from the State Council, emergency management ministry, transportation ministry, housing ministry and state-owned asset administrator said.
The summons, involving five of China’s top regulatory bodies, reflects the seriousness with which Beijing is treating the failures and suggests that further consequences, including potential penalties, leadership changes or structural reforms, could follow if the companies fail to demonstrate meaningful improvement in their safety practices.
(with input from Reuters)
